NAME

Test::MockTime - Replaces actual time with simulated time

SYNOPSIS

use Test::MockTime();
Test::MockTime::set_relative_time(-600);
# do some tests depending on time increasing from 600 seconds ago
Test::MockTime::set_absolute_time(0);
# do some more tests depending on time starting from the epoch
# epoch may vary according to platform. see perlport.
Test::MockTime::set_fixed_time(CORE::time());
# do some more tests depending on time staying at the current actual time
Test::MockTime::restore();
# resume normal service

DESCRIPTION

This module was created to enable test suites to test code at specific points in time. Specifically it overrides localtime, gmtime and time at compile time and then relies on the user supplying a mock time via set_relative_time, set_absolute_time or set_fixed_time to alter future calls to gmtime,time or localtime.

Functions

set_absolute_time($time)

takes as an argument an absolute time (for example, if 0 is supplied, the absolute time will be the epoch), and calculates the offset to allow subsequent calls to time,gmtime and localtime to reflect this.

takes as an argument an relative value from current time (for example, if -10 is supplied, current time be converted to actual machine time - 10 seconds) and calculates the offset to allow subsequent calls to time,gmtime and localtime to reflect this.